MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

Results tagged ‘ Adrian Cardenas ’

* Feb. 21 in Mesa, Ariz. It was one of the strangest transactions in Cubs history as pitcher Chris Carpenter said goodbye to his teammates after he found out he was going to the Red Sox as the player to be named as compensation for Theo Epstein. Said Carpenter: “I guess my name will go down in history.”

* Feb. 24 in Mesa, Ariz. On the first day Starlin Castro worked out at Fitch Park, manager Dale Sveum was standing near the shortstop, offering some tips on defense. Sveum didn’t let up all season. Castro did commit 27 errors, but also showed improvement in the field.

* March 18 in Las Vegas prior to game vs. Rangers. Infielder Adrian Cardenas is as passionate about playing baseball as he is about working on his degree at New York University. Cardenas wants to write a novel about his parents and how they came to the U.S. from Cuba. He was most likely the only player in Spring Training who read three Albert Camus books in a two-week period. Said Cardenas: “I’m a better baseball player because of it.”

* April 27 in Des Moines. I talked to Brett Jackson, Josh Vitters and Anthony Rizzo, who were on Triple-A Iowa roster, and could hear their enthusiasm in their voices, see their work ethic, and feel the energy.

* May 18 at Wrigley Field. Rumors were flying pre-game that this would be Kerry Wood’s last game. It couldn’t have been scripted any better. The right-hander threw three pitches, all strikes, for his final strikeout, then walked off the field and was greeted by his son, Justin. Wood didn’t disappear. His Wood Family Foundation was active, and treated students at Nash Elementary School on Chicago’s west side to coats, gloves, hats and gifts as well as a visit from Santa in December. It was a pleasure to cover Wood’s career from start to finish.

* June 26 at Wrigley Field. Anthony Rizzo is promoted from Iowa, and gets two hits in his Cubs debut, including a tie-breaking RBI double, in a victory over the Mets. Four days later, Rizzo hits his first home run for the Cubs, a go-ahead two-run shot, in a 3-2 victory over the Astros. On July 29, Rizzo notched a personal milestone, hitting his first walk-off home run in a 10-inning win over the Cardinals. Said Alfonso Soriano on Rizzo’s impact: “He’s changed everything.”

* July 4 in Atlanta. Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio reveals he has a deal with closer Carlos Marmol. The pitcher is not allowed to shake off his catcher on any pitch, and if he does, Marmol owes Bosio a case of wine. Marmol compiles a 1.52 ERA in the second half.

* July 22 at St. Louis. Dale Sveum asked his starting lineup to click their heels as they took the field in a tribute to Ron Santo, who was inducted posthumously into the Hall of Fame that day in Cooperstown. It was a terrific moment — and repeated at Wrigley Field on July 27 when the Cubs returned home.

* July 23 in St. Louis. It was Super Hero day, and players, coaches and Sveum dressed up as their favorites. Best costume? Jeff Baker and Reed Johnson as Epstein and Jed Hoyer, complete with cell phones to their ears.

* Aug. 5 in Los Angeles. Jackson and Vitters are promoted from Triple-A Iowa. Both struggled at the plate, but Jackson showed his value in the field Sept. 7 with an amazing catch then crash into the center field wall at PNC Park.

* Aug. 18 in Appleton, Wis. I watched Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler go 4-for-5 for Class A Peoria. He hit two singles, a double, and a very impressive home run to straight away center, drove in two runs, and stole a base. Can’t wait until he’s in right field at Wrigley.

* Sept. 8 at PNC Park, Pittsburgh. This was Jeff Samardzija’s last start of the season, and it showed how far he’s come. The right-hander gave up four hits in his first complete game, striking out nine. He could be the Opening Day starter in 2013.

* Oct. 3 at Wrigley Field. Bryan LaHair delivers a walkoff RBI single for a 5-4 win over the Astros in the Cubs’ season finale. It was a roller coaster ride for LaHair, who went from starting first baseman to All-Star to reserve. During batting practice on one road trip, a fan yelled congratulations to LaHair for making the All-Star team. Said LaHair: “No one can take that away from me.”

* Oct. 6 at Mesa, Ariz. I went to Instructional League to watch the young Cubs play, but this time was different. There was more energy, more noise — players and coaches picked their favorite song and it was part of batting practice background music — and lots of work. Watching the enthusiastic kids gives one optimism for the future.

Infielder Adrian Cardenas and right-handed pitchers Miguel Socolovich, Jason Berken and Marcos Mateo were assigned outright to Triple-A Iowa and are no longer on the Cubs’ 40-man roster. The team also announced that catcher Anthony Recker, designated for assignment on Wednesday, was claimed off waivers by the Mets. Recker, acquired from the Athletics on Aug. 27 for Blake Lalli, went 3-for-18 in nine games with the Cubs, including a home run Sept. 9 against the Pirates.

Cardenas spent most of the 2012 season with Iowa, where he batted .300 in 65 games. He batted .183 in 45 games with the Cubs. Socolovich, who was claimed off waivers from the Orioles on Aug. 23, posted a 4.50 ERA in six games with the Cubs. Berken, also claimed off waivers from the Orioles on Sept. 7, was 0-3 with a 4.82 ERA in four starts with Chicago. Mateo had been on the 60-day disabled list with ulnar neuritis, and was activated and then outrighted to Iowa.

Adrian Cardenas and Darwin Barney visited patients at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital on Wednesday. They stopped by the oncology floor and signed Cubs hats and posed for photos. Later, Barney went to the new Ronald McDonald House, and Cardenas stayed at Lurie’s and made an appearance on their SkyTV Network, an in-house television network which is shown to all the rooms at the hospital.

Tony Campana, Adrian Cardenas and Dave Sappelt joined the Cubs on Saturday, part of the September call-ups. There will be more to come as Chris Rusin is added as well as Miguel Socolovich and Anthony Recker. Sappelt, 25, finished at Iowa with a .266 batting average, but his monthly totals show how much he struggled. He batted .218 in April, .237 in May, .260 in June, .317 in July and .287 in August.

“I was not putting consistent swings on the ball and I went through about 15 batting stances,” said Sappelt, acquired from the Reds along with Travis Wood in the Sean Marshall deal. “I was in a mental hole all year. I think I’m out of it now.”

Which stance did he settle on?

“It’s sometihng brand new,” Sappelt said. “I took a little out of Brett Jackson’s page and Josh Hamilton’s hand drop before the pitch to slow down. That’s been working for me. I think I’m going to ride that out from here on out.”

This is Campana’s second stint with the Cubs. He was with the big league team from mid April to Aug 3, and batted .259. was happy just to get regular at-bats. He hit .264 in August at Iowa, getting more at-bats than he did in June and July combined with the Cubs.

“I went down there and I needed to get at-bats and I got to play every day and I got to get at-bats,” Campana said. “It was nice to play every day.”

His goal now?

“I’ll come off the bench, do my thing, and run around a little bit,” said Campana, who did steal 26 bases for the Cubs.

Cubs manager Dale Sveum said the new players will have to adjust to few at-bats.

“The core of the lineup will be pretty much the same,” Sveum said. “It’s not as if I’m going to play these guys a lot. It’ll be periodically, matchups, whatever. When we’re playing these teams in first place [like the Giants], we’re going to put our core guys out there.”

Jeff Beliveau joined the Cubs on Friday, taking Brooks Raley’s spot on the roster. There will be more players added, starting Saturday. Expect Tony Campana, Adrian Cardenas and Dave Sappelt to join the Cubs at that time. Chris Rusin also will be added, and start on Tuesday. He first went to Double-A Tennessee so he could stay on his work schedule. The Cubs also want to get a little look at newly acquired pitcher Miguel Socolovich and catcher Anthony Recker. They’ll join the team soon.

Adrian Cardenas hit his third home run in Iowa’s 5-3 win over Oklahoma City on Friday. Cardenas connected in the eighth, and finished with two RBIs. Tony Campana was 2-for-4 with a triple and one RBI. Jay Jackson picked up the win in relief.

Junior Lake, Rubi Silva and Matt Szczur each homered in Tennessee’s 11-5 win over Mobile. Dallas Beeler picked up the win, giving up five runs over five innings. Lake’s homer was his ninth and he’s now batting .280. He connected in the third for a three-run blast and Silva followed with his first of the year.

Elieser Bonne hit a three-run homer in the fifth to help Daytona beat Tampa, 4-3, in the first game of a doubleheader. Christian Villanueva hit a solo shot in the sixth to back Kyle Hendricks, who gave up two runs over five innings. In the second game, Tampa beat Daytona, 11-5, collecting eight runs off starter Matt Loosen in 3 1/3 innings. Villanueva was 2-for-3 with a double.

Dustin Geiger hit his 17th home run but it wasn’t enough as Peoria lost, 8-2, to Beloit. Geiger finished with two hits and two RBIs. Chadd Krist had two hits and Austin Reed pitched one inning of scoreless relief.

Tayler Scott gave up five runs over five innings in Boise’s 7-6 loss to Vancouver. Marco Hernandez had three hits.

The Cubs will make two roster moves on Tuesday to open spots on the 25-man roster for Chris Rusin, who make his first start, and also for Alex Hinshaw, claimed off waivers from the Padres. Expect Jeff Beliveau and Adrian Cardenas to be sent back to Triple-A Iowa to make room.

Expect catcher Welington Castillo, infielder Adrian Cardenas and pitcher Casey Coleman to join the Cubs Tuesday night in Chicago. With the loss of Paul Maholm, Reed Johnson and Geovany Soto, the Cubs need a backup catcher, another starter and a utility player. Castillo was batting .260 in 44 games with six home runs, six doubles and 22 RBIs for Iowa. Coleman was 2-4 with a 5.01 ERA in 11 games (nine starts) for Iowa. Cardenas was batting .322 in 56 games with Iowa, hitting two home runs, 20 doubles, and four triples. All three have had brief callups with the Cubs.

Steve Clevenger was expected to take over as the Cubs regular catcher.

“I’ll just prepare myself every day like I’ve been doing,” Clevenger said. “I’m not taking anything for granted. I’ll go out and play the game hard like I was playing before. Other than that, just try to win.”

Chris Volstad gave up two earned runs on six hits over seven innings and struck out seven in Iowa’s 3-1 loss to Oklahoma City on Thursday. Matt Tolbert was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle, going 4-for-5 with a double, triple and stolen base. Adrian Cardenas had two hits and a stolen base. Ty Wright and Blake Lalli had two hits apiece.

Michael Brenly hit his third homer and Nelson Perez hit his second but it wasn’t enough as Tennessee lost 13-6 to Birmingham. Jae-Hoon Ha, who will play in the All-Star Futures game, had two hits and was batting .253. Junior Lake also had two hits. Trey McNutt took the loss, giving up eight runs (four earned) on six hits over two-thirds of an inning.

Robert Whitenack gave up one earned run on six hits over four innings in Daytona’s 14-4 win over Dunedin. Arismendy Alcantara, Roni Torreyes and Rebel Ridling each homered. Matt Szczur was 3-for-3 with three stolen bases and two RBIs. Alcantara and Rubi Silva each had three hits.

Gerardo Concepcion gave up five runs on six hits over six innings in Peoria’s 7-3 loss to Wisconsin. Dustin Geiger extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a double.

Ian Dickson picked up his first win in Boise’s 12-2 win over Spokane. Dickson gave up one earned run on four hits and struck out six over 3 1/3 innings. Dong-Yub Kim homered and drove in four runs.

Jacob Rogers hit two home runs in Mesa’s 11-2 win over the Diamondbacks. Rogers went 4-for-4 with four RBIs.

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